Charley is a cleaner by day and a professional gambler by night. She might be haunted by her tragic past but she's never thought of herself as anything or anyone special. Until, that is, things start to go terribly wrong all across the city of Manchester. Between plagues of rats, firestorms and the gleaming blue eyes of a sexy Scottish werewolf, she might just have landed herself in the middle of a magical apocalypse. She might also be the only person who has the ability to bring order to an utterly chaotic new world.

*New and Lengthened 2018 Edition*How well do you know yourself?Sixteen-year-old Elle thinks she's got life in Shady Oaks all under control until new boy Asher comes to town. Elle can't explain it, but she can't deny the connection she feels to him. Things with Asher are going great until they're out one night and nearly attacked by a large wolf. Before she knows it, Elle's life is spiraling out of control: Maddox is in love with her, she and Asher are in danger…and she learns she's a shifter!If that wasn't bad enough, she finds herself in the middle of an ages-old war between shifters and hunters.What else can she do but join the cause?Will Elle stay with Asher or break-up with him to be with Maddox? What does it mean to be a shifter? Who will emerge victorious in the battle?

EXCERPTAs if on cue, a wild and ferocious animal broke through the brush and leaped through the air, landing only inches from where Asher and I were standing. It was a wolf, gray and brown with golden yellow eyes and a muscular frame.

Blood dripped from the predator's sharp fangs. I couldn't help but stare in wild fascination as the animal sauntered toward us. Its grin seemed to grow with each deliberate step, as though the beast was mocking us. My heart began to race, and my breath faltered as I took in the beast gnashing its teeth in front of us. I could see its wild hairs as they moved in the wind as it stared at us, standing there, frozen with fear.

I slowly turned my head to look at Asher, hoping he'd be able to offer me something to help calm my growing fear. Instead of seeing nervousness like I'd expected, I saw a fuming mad Asher staring daggers into the eyes of the wild animal across from us. I moved toward the animal and saw a similar heated and irritated glare staring back at Asher. It was as though the two were in a standoff, both equally livid and irritated by the presence of the other.

My eyes found their way to the beast, and I couldn't help but linger on its shape, size, and color. One small glimpse into its golden eyes and I had no choice but to observe its every move. I watched its massive and muscular chest rise with rough breaths. I should have been stricken with fear. I should have been crying and begging the animal not to tear open my throat and eat me for a snack, but I wasn't. Instead, I regarded the animal with fascination. There was something about the creature that had lured me into its presence.

Without thinking, I took a step forward, gaining the creature's interest. It tore its snarling gaze from Asher and seemed to calm as the golden eyes drank me in.

"Elle, stop," Asher whispered. He reached out and grabbed my arm.

With his movement, the creature growled and let out an ear-piercing and heart-stopping howl. I swear, it was as though Asher's grabbing me had enraged the animal. I knew that sounded wildly insane, but something was off about our encounter, and I couldn't stop myself from being drawn to its existence.

"Watch out," Asher yelled again, pulling me protectively behind him.

He stood tall in front of me, using his body as a shield, trying to form a wall between the beast and myself.

BOOK 3 OF THE SERIES COMING SEPTEMBER 13TH

Synopsis: For Elle, she thought the day she learned she was a Shifter was the most frustrating day of her life. Well, that was until she found herself in the middle of a war between her best friend and boyfriend. Now, everything is about to change for this trio as a known Witch in Shady Oaks has decided to wage a war against the Shifters and Otherworldly Creatures. This time, Elle may find herself battling with new powers and without her trusted best friend, Maddox. Discover how hearts are broken and mended in this exciting third installment of the Shifter Chronicles, Everlight

Sixteen-year-old Brieze is the apprentice and adopted daughter of a powerful wizard. She never met her biological father, a merchantman from the faraway Eastern Kingdoms who had a brief romance with her mother, then disappeared. When Brieze discovers her mother is still secretly, crazily in love with this man, even after seventeen years, she decides to find him, confront him, and get some answers from him for her mother's sake.

In her small airship the Devious, she makes the long and dangerous journey to the Eastern Kingdoms. Along the way, she confronts pirates and the nocturnal ship-crushing beast known as the Nagmor. She survives a harrowing trip through the legendary Wind's Teeth. She discovers why her father disappeared, and in the process she learns the true version of her own story.

When Brieze's boyfriend, Tak, receives word she's in danger, he sets out on his own journey east to help her. Will he be able to rescue her, or will she end up having to rescue him?

Brieze’s mother was acting strange. She’d been moping and sighing around the wizard’s house all day, doing dumb things. She’d left her hairbrush on the stairs of all places, where Brieze had nearly tripped over it and broken her neck, and she’d forgotten to feed the wizard’s exotic birds, which squawked hungrily from their cages in the parlor. Brieze was pretty sure her mother’s state of mind had something to do with Tobias the handyman. The two had stopped talking to each other, and Tobias was moping around the house too.

Her mother had wandered outside to the wide front lawn that stretched to the edge of the wizard’s floating island. Brieze kept an eye on her from an upstairs window as she played chess with the wizard. The wizard took a long time making his moves, and she went to the window and watched while she waited.

Now her mother was doing more dumb things. She wasn’t wearing a cloak, even though the fall chill outside hinted strongly of the winter to come, and she was standing much too close to the island’s edge, especially for such a windy day. And it was hard for Brieze to tell at this distance, but she didn’t seem to be wearing a parachute pack, which was not just dumb but dangerous.

With the late afternoon sun low in the sky and the island positioned near the Highspire Mountains, the view was spectacular. From horizon to horizon, silvery gray clouds blanketed the surface of Etherium, as they always did. To the east, the mountains rose tall and craggy and green out these clouds, reaching for the sky. The mountain range stretched northward and southward in lazy zigs and zags, the farthest mountains fading off into the distance. The sky was a pretty shade of pinkish-purple. Banks of cumulus clouds piled high on the horizon like echoes of the mountains.

The nearest mountain was so close that, if her mother were looking at the view, she could have made out the terraced fields and orchards on its lower flanks. She could have glimpsed the tiny specks of ox- and donkey-drawn carts making their way along the roads that spiraled or switchbacked up the mountainside. Further up the mountain, she could have seen the city of Selestria in all its sunlit splendor, the brightly-colored pennants flying from the roofs of the stone houses, the airships swarming about the city like busy bees—constantly touching down and taking off—their silvery sails glinting when they caught the sun. At the mountain’s crown, she could have admired Castle Selestria, which seemed as much a part of the sky as part of the earth, its tallest towers and turrets lost in the clouds.

But Brieze’s mother wasn’t looking at any of this. She hadn’t gone outside for the view. She stood with her head down, shoulders hunched, and her hands thrust deep into her pockets, muttering to herself. She didn’t notice the gusts of wind tugging at her skirt. The knotted bun of her hair had come undone—it whipped around her face in a frenzy.

Brieze unclipped a brand-new spyglass from the belt of her black flightsuit. It had been a gift from the wizard for her sixteenth birthday. She studied her mother through it. The house’s rafters groaned in the wind.

“Ah ha!” the wizard said, and advanced one of his pawns with a satisfied little clink. “Your move.”

“She’s not wearing a parachute,” Brieze said, peering through the spyglass.

“Hmmmm…?” the wizard looked up from the chessboard, his blue eyes blinking beneath bushy white brows.

“It’s windy out there and she forgot to grab a chute from the porch.”

The wizard came to the window. He frowned at the distant figure of Patentia Crofter standing near the island’s edge with her shoulders hunched against the wind, her hands in her pockets, her hair flying. “That is exceedingly dangerous,” he said, his brow furrowing and his eyebrows squinching closer together.

And, as if to prove him right, a huge gust of wind ballooned Patentia’s skirt, lifted her off her feet, and carried her tumbling end-over-end off the island’s edge.

Nine months have passed since Grace Fortune saw the boy she loves, Jared Lorn, die before her eyes. But Grace’s suspicions have her wondering if Jared really dead. Along with her friends, she sets out to find answers, and the investigation leads to an unexpected place: Silo City, an abandoned silo complex that houses as many dark secrets as it does forsaken people.

Very much alive, Jared’s on a mission to save the girl he loves by collaborating with the enemy—a young, brash rock star named Lester Crow who fronts the punk metal band Blood Moon. Jared’s “deal with the devil” will take him on a cross-country journey into the heartland of darkness. The music of Blood Moon is a weapon against God, and Jared must wield this weapon while trying desperately to preserve his mind and soul from its power.

Jared and Grace are desperate to be reunited, but first, they must defeat the demonic forces arrayed against them. And pray that Jared, a Nephilim forsaken in God’s eyes, has a chance at a future.

What would you do if you were the monarch of a
perfect, tropical paradise without a care in the
world? Well, King Norr would like to leave, and
always has.

"Where else but Nibb?" his subjects would contend.
Venturing away from Nibb was only inviting misery
and "haddock."

Nevertheless, the King was intent to experience
the world beyond and this is the story of the
adventures that found him during that pursuit.

Telling too much would ruin the surprises in store,
but some of the mysteries include --

Who was the curious, little girl who would not speak?
Had Doctor Hinkus fallen prey to marauding drumbkins?
Whose prank set the Palace afloat?
What's a spudcake?
Do pirates bathe?
Did Uncle Fenwad roll out of the Palace?
What's a Sober Tooth Tiger?
Do Nibbian pigs have a future in aviation?

These questions and more arise just as Norr may
have found what he had always wanted. Never
mind his world had become perfectly chaotic. It
was also chaotically perfect, and nothing that
couldn't be remedied with an additional nap.

The Gift of the Quoxxel is Richard's debut novel. His life
experience includes visual arts, freelance graphic design and
illustration, truck driving, verb conjugating, military service,
and mastery of an adequate meatloaf.

A Michigan native and parochial school survivor, Richard resides
with wife Marina close to, but far enough from New York City.

EXCERPT

"Chapter One

EXILED ON ISLE X

King Norr rubbed his weary eyes. He no longer needed shade now as the sun slid ever closer to the sea. A rising offshore breeze refreshed the land and set his umbrella to dance a one-legged jig while winking stars bid farewell to daylight.

Marathon sitting had taken its toll, and the King’s idling joints were pleading for relief. A therapeutic twist-turn-stretch would do the trick to get him on to more urgent matters, that being a fast approaching supper. Eating was all he was capable of in his depleted, end-of-day condition. Doctor Hinkus referred to it as “fatigue-fogged.” Higher brain functions had closed shop and gone fishing hours ago leaving the King to his own devices, in this case, forgetting he was sitting on the Palace parapet with legs dangling on the outer wall. Fortunately, reflexes triggered a lifesaving pirouette backward onto the veranda when he rose to leave.

“BINGUS!” the King paled. He came through the close call undamaged even though his thrashing foot had dislodged a sizable piece of masonry and launched it into space. Down it tumbled endangering branch-dwelling neighbors who shrieked in terror as rubble tore through their treetop homes.

Fearing the worst, Norr looked over the ledge to check his neighbors’ status and instinctively pulled back when meeting projectiles of retaliation rising in his direction. He was in no actual danger, he realized, being far beyond the range of hand-thrown objects. Shortly they would reach their zenith, reverse course, and rain with a vengeance on their launchers. And that is precisely what they did.

“Most sorry, sorry,” Norr called down apologetically. “Oh, that will be a long time remembered among the primates, I fear. Dingley will need to make amends with roller skates, funny hats, and fruit baskets.” As he wondered just how many fruit baskets it would take to appease the monkey community, King Norr did a backward crawl to a safer distance.

Sitting a moment stupefied from his near fatality, Norr caught a glimpse of Queen Vayla through a chambers window. He dreaded telling her what happened. She called it “parapet perching,” and it drove her crazy. In spite of her pleading and threats, Norr continued to do it. Finally, she decided to manage her discomfort by busying herself elsewhere when he precariously propped himself to scan the sea.

“I’m leaving the Palace now,” she called to her husband who decided he should look too busy for conversation.

“Grand plan, dear,” Norr said fiddling fastidiously. “If we need more trenches, you're just the person to do it. You’ve got my vote to moat.”

“I won’t be long,” were her final words.

Did the King detect a sense of exasperation? He did not wish to worry his wife about his obsessive pastime. Feeling guilty he was causing his wife distress reminded Norr how terrible he felt about endangering the branch dwellers just moments ago. Heated screeching rising from the leafy canopy cheered him a little as it indicated the return of customary peer heckling meaning life there had returned to normal.

“Scandal averted,” came a non-human voice from nowhere in particular. Norr turned but saw no one, only rustling palms in pots ranking the far side of the veranda.

“What’s this I hear about a moat? Redecorating and leaving me out of the design loop?” the voice complained.

Norr went taut as a turtle’s tether. He hadn’t expected a visit from Yill which, he should have known, would be the exact time he would appear.

“I know, I know. My decorating skills rely heavily on throw pillows. Let me have a go at it, anyway. I know LOTS of moats. Some of my best friends inhabit them, with and without throw pillows.”

Bloffix! thought the King. He had made it nearly to supper without Yill's pestering. Norr blamed himself for not seeing it coming -- the Yill ambush. It was the manic mite's most-used maneuver to catch the King unawares again and again. Norr realized the chance of getting away unscathed grew slimmer by the second.

“Before we toss around some decorating motifs, I’ve just one question, o-Monarch-of-mine -- how does a moat work exactly? That is, what tower height to water depth ratio do we need to neutralize the effects of gravity? Pardon me if I’m confusing you with pertinent data. Take your time to answer. I’m in no hurry.”

Norr sat with his back to his unwanted guest but had a general sense of his movements in peripheral vision.

“Don’t you worry about accurate calculations? Mangled math could result with you reduced to royal remnant, if you know what I mean. How embarrassing would THAT be? I can’t imagine.”

Yill watched Norr for body tells. Every encounter between the two ended in a competition of wits, a vanishing capacity in Norr at Yill's every appearance. Today, however, the King felt he might put the tutelage of past conflicts to his advantage and beat Yill at his own game.

“You realize, of course, the fall isn’t the problem,” Yill continued. “IMPACT is the real deal-breaker! There are no do-overs when you’re corkscrewed into bedrock! Believe me!”

It was a second-by-second struggle for the King to hold his tongue feeling his anxiety swell by the second.

“I grant you -- it’s a classic exit and a great opportunity for Nibbian wordsmiths. You’re giving them great stuff to work with. Tragicomedy is great fable fodder. You’ll be immortal before the broom and dustpan consortium collect your canceled carcass. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to have a skillful spinmaster in your employ. If legacy is left to amateurs, you might be remembered more sap than saint. It’s up to you of course, but I’d recommend saint.”

Yill paused waiting for Norr’s reaction and was slightly encouraged at what might have been a lip tremble. For his part, Norr maintained his stoic resolve by gluing full concentration on his toes, worrying only how long he could watch them without wiggling or giggling.

“I almost forgot,” Yill dug deeply into an imaginary pocket, withdrew an invisible paper, and unfolded it. “I’ve got something for you. You didn’t think I’d neglect you in your time of need, did you?” Officiously, the would-be orator grabbed the nonexistent page, top, and bottom, and commenced to read.

“Let us explore the lore of King Norr, Nibbian regent whom all did adore.”

“Good start, right? Compelling? Suspenseful?” Yill’s eyes danced like lit firecrackers ready to burst. “Not literal, of course. In your case, accuracy isn’t advisable. ‘An epitaph should make none laugh,’ my old dad used to say, and he was right. The congregation cried buckets when he kicked, and not entirely on account of the jalapeño punch.”

Yill tapped his cheek thoughtfully. “OK . . . where were we?”

The King lay on his back along the parapet wall and closed his eyes half-contemplating a final leap that very moment. Across the veranda, he could see his tortoise, Clem, disappointed now with the disappearance of the warming sun. It must be nice being a tortoise, Norr told himself -- living in your portable fortress, safe from harm, withdrawing from the world whenever you pleased. Norr wished, at that moment, he possessed such a practical talent. Sadly, his chief feature was a firm instep -- ideal for ballroom dancing, but nearly useless in self-defense.

“He rolled off the tower . . .” Yill continued with sweeping theatrical gestures. “Hmmm, what rhymes with 'tower'? Sour? Well, that suits you, but what else? What are your good attributes? Do you have any? Mind you -- they need to rhyme with ‘tower.’”

Norr opened his eyes and spotted a wisp of cloud drifting just perceptibly, timeless on the blue. He marveled at its poise, its grace, its serenity, its lack of Yill. How grand it must be floating carefree, unbound, and able any moment to leave earthly concerns behind.

“Let us explore the lore of King Norr, Nibbian regent whom all did adore. He rolled off the tower at half past the hour and now is a lump on the shore.”

“I have to hand it to me,” Yill applauded himself. “We'll discuss compensation later. I’m thinking a granite likeness to capture my chiseled jaw line -- but before we get to that . . .” Yill went still for an instant, “there is one glitch to itch. Do you see it?”

Coming nose-to-nose with the reclining sovereign, Yill addressed the King's closed eyelids. “Half past the hour -- how can we make that happen? And do we NEED to make it happen? We have our public to consider, yes. Will they expect punctuality? Maybe not. Perhaps free pastries and balloons for the kids will suffice. What do you think?”

Yill’s words buzzed like insects in the King’s ears. Norr imagined himself smaller and smaller, only making the idiot droning louder and louder. Unconsciousness, the King thought. Where was it when needed most?

“King, old boy, I know you're a busy monarch (or so some say). May I ask a favor? It’s not for me. It’s for you. How will you be remembered -- a cretinous cube of complacency or heel-less, half-baked, halfwit? What’s the difference, you may well ask? You won’t be around. Why should you care? Why indeed, my friend. I’ll tell you why. You owe it to future generations. They need to know about the tragic Norr of Nibb, lackluster legend filling pages still unwritten, and nourishing minds yet unbored!”

Norr clutched his diminishing resistance and thought. Monolithic -- that's what I am -- cold, stony, and unmovable. Norr could ignore like no one before -- maybe that should be my epitaph.

“Say, that’s not bad!” Yill replied to the unspoken remark.

Bloffix, thought the King. How does he do that? Must stop thinking . . .

“Half past the hour,” Yill ripened. “That’s the plan. If you don’t go out at half past (any hour, your choice), you, and more importantly I, will lose all credibility. You’ll become more laughable (if possible), like a horse with mascara. Is that what you want? As your authorized epitapher, I’d find it humiliating, to say the least. Even if you’re dead, how could you live with yourself?”

“Snithering Limpid!” Norr blurted.

“Snithering Limpid? Oh, I forgot. Your dinner hour approaches. How does Chef prepare Limpids? Heads on or off? Personally, I like the toes,” said Yill licking his fingers. “Human behavior is so fascinating. You’d eat almost anything if it doesn’t eat you first.”

“I really must be off,” the indignant King said attempting to leave. “You can show yourself out, not that I believe you will.”

“I understand, O Famished One. Or should I call you Nearly Departed? Let’s do lunch, sometime soon. We’ll discuss your epitaph then . . . unless you fall off the tower in the meantime, of course.”

Unclear on human customs, Yill grabbed the King’s unwilling wrist and shook it forcibly. “Now give us a kiss!” said Yill, but Norr stepped aside before his tormentor could muster a pucker.

“I should warn you, Yill,” the King said ominously, “ravenous pelicans were here earlier. I've seen them carry off BISCUITS larger than you.”

“Don't worry about me. I come from a long line of beak benders,” Yill said. “We're one tough species and barely digestible.”

“And what species is that?” Norr asked. “Even Hinkus is puzzled. He's never seen the likes of you.”

“Likewise, I'm sure,” Yill said. “He’s . . . WHAT exactly? You’re always asking him questions. Does he really know stuff or do you just like to annoy him by knowing so little?”

“Doctor Hinkus is my top advisor, go-to, know-it-all,” Norr explained. “I confer with him on all rigorous rationale. Brainy is what he does best.”

“Wow! And what happens when he doesn’t have an answer? Does he make one up? That’s what I do,” Yill said with pride. “Even so, I’m sure Hinkus is an astute fellow, probably knows how long to cook a three-minute egg, why wind blows sideways, and why water is wet.”

“Exactly,” agreed Norr. “For example, he recently cured me of a stabbing pain in my eye that occurred every time I drank from a cup.”

“He told you to remove the spoon first, right?” Yill suggested.

“How’d you know that?” asked a bothered Norr. “At any rate, the Doctor’s contributions are invaluable and too numerous to mention.”

“He’s one sparkly speck on Humanity Beach, for sure,” Yill appraised, “but can he do this?”

At that moment, Queen Vayla popped her head through the doorway from the inner chambers. “Did you say something, dear?”

Norr fired a glance at Yill and felt his throat tighten. “G-, G-, Geck!” was all he could push out. Vocal chords had frozen and would not respond no matter how hard Norr tried.

“Yes, it is a lovely day,” the Queen agreed, taking in the view. “Hinkus will have fine weather for his expedition. You know, Bink will be staying at home alone while his father’s away. Maybe we should invite him to stay with us in the meantime.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Vayla answered. “Bink is clever enough to take care of himself. Just the same, I’ll have Chef send him a food basket. Speaking of which, our meal will be ready soon,” Vayla smiled and disappeared indoors.

Yill rolled across the deck laughing. “You certainly have a way with words, Norr-man, no doubt a useful skill as head duck. I'm impressed.”

Norr gasped for air and probed his neck repeatedly. He half expected to find something lodged in his windpipe but found it clear and in the location where it had always been.

“You were about to introduce me to the missus, weren't you?” Yill accused. “Well, perhaps some other time. Darn thoughtful of you though.”

Taking two steps, Yill launched himself across the veranda to lightly land at the King's curioscillator, an elaborate device of questionable usefulness through which Norr enjoyed watching the comings and goings about the island.

“Ah, the tele-snoop!” Yill called it, randomly pressing buttons and spinning knobs to no effect. “Oh, I do love these fantastic toys Hinkus contrives. They don’t do anything, but they certainly are pretty!”

Norr continued to pat about his throat and jaw, fearful of the sound he would produce next.

King Norr clenched his fists. With supper just a minute away, he knew he could tolerate Yill a few seconds longer.

“I saw one today -- three masts,” Yill recounted. “You couldn’t have missed it. Did you see me? The cats invited me aboard -- tabby sisters, very friendly. They asked me to lunch, but I wasn’t in the mood for rat. More than once a month is a bit much for me. I mention that should you wish to invite me for a meal.” Yill looked sideways to catch Norr's reaction. “I also chatted with the men on the ship. Almost went with them. The captain invited me, you know.”

“I mean, here you sit, day after day, craving an offshore guest yet none arrives. I, on the other hand, freely associate with passing travelers almost daily. I'd say that was downright ironic.”

Why indeed, Norr wondered. It was always the same -- a ship approached, hesitated, and departed. It had been the recurring situation since his childhood. It was maddening. Over the years, he had filled seven journals with notes of passing vessels yet not one had made landfall, nor had he ever welcomed strangers to his shore.

“A friendly lot they were. I was ready to go with them,” recalled Yill. “Do you know why I didn’t? I didn’t go because I knew you'd miss me.”

Having been mocked by Yill so many times, Norr did not put much credence in the sincerity of the gilled gadfly.

“Not only that,” Yill went on, “I had no toothbrush. And I knew they had none aboard. How did I know, you may ask?”

King Norr shrugged.

“Because they had no TEETH!”

Norr paid no attention as he was still thinking about Yill’s previous comment, “I knew you’d miss me.” As much as he hated to admit it, the King knew this was true. And why would he have missed Yill? Sadly, he was the only one with whom Norr’s passion could be discussed -- foreign ships that came and went about Nibb.

He couldn't speak to his wife about it. Queen Vayla had long ago chosen not to acknowledge his behavior. There was a time when she sought to dissuade him from spending “lost hours,” as she called it. In the end, she realized her husband would never give up the obsession and so she chose to avoid the subject altogether.

As a boy, Norr’s parents had also discouraged what they considered an unnatural interest. Nevertheless, young Norr always managed to sneak away to secret viewing points from which he would squint in secret to his heart’s content.

The Nibbian Royal Family decreed that nothing of importance lay beyond Nibbian shores. There were no people elsewhere, therefore, no vessels. What were the origins of the passing ships? They were oddities of the sea, rising from somewhere, returning to nowhere. If they were of any importance, Nibbians would be the first to know.

“Where else but Nibb?” was the favorite adage. Norr's father, King Blint, had railed on the subject. “Nibb is perfection. Why look elsewhere? Speculation will only bring haddock!”

Nevertheless, each passing craft had always fired Norr's imagination with dreams of exotic places. He was sure the travelers had marvelous tales to tell. Certainly, whatever lay beyond the horizon had to be unbelievable and remarkable. If not, why did so many travel so far?

“You know, Yill,” the King barely believing what he was about to say, “I envy you.”

“I know,” Yill said admiring his reflection in a lens of the device. “Perfection -- is it a virtue or curse? Who can say? That debate will go on long after I’m gone . . . and that could be any time now.”

“You say that yet here you remain,” Norr said irritably. “Don't give me false hope. If there’s anything I can do to expedite your departure, just name it.”

“There is one thing,” Yill swung the scope about and aimed it at Norr. “Can you tell me if Hinkus has departed?”

“I wish he hadn't,” admitted Norr. “It means I'll bear the brunt of your mischief in his absence. You aren’t planning any waggery while he’s gone, are you?”

“My wagging days in this neighborhood are over,” Yill said. “However, before I leave, there’s something you should know about the respected Doctor.”

“Don’t tell me,” quipped Norr, “you’re his estranged, evil brother.”

“Wrong,” countered Yill. “Hinkus is the reason I'm here.”

“How did that happen?” Norr asked. “Did he reel you in from the lagoon?”

“Hey, good guess! That’s almost how it happened.”

“Sorry, but I don't believe it. If Hinkus had caught you on a line, we'd have figured you out long ago. Excuse me,” the King tugged his cap brim lower. “I've activated my nonsense filter. I can no longer hear a word you're saying.”

“Har, har! You are a jocular gem, but SO linear,” Yill poked fun. “I haven't ARRIVED yet. And, if Doctor Hinkus is away for another four days, I will never have been here!”

Norr covered his mouth and yawned. “And now, from the observation deck high atop the Coral Palace, we come to you with the evening Yill Forecast for town and coastal area. Expect moderate hummdummery throughout the evening, intermittent obfuscation past midnight, and intervals of annoyance before dawn.”

The King paused listening for the typical thorny retort he was sure would follow.

Silence.

After a moment, he realized Yill had made his customary, unannounced departure and wondered if all amphibians (if that's what Yill truly was) were equally rude. The King had little experience with reptiles, certainly with none who could talk, so an accurate assessment was impossible. Relieved at Yill's absence, Norr marked the occasion with his longest sigh of the day.

He looked out upon the setting sun gilding the Nibbian towers -- the foreboding sentinels of Nibb -- and wondered if similar towers on foreign shores looked back towards them. Maybe the world held a population of structural giants regarding one another across the waves, communicating silently over miles and centuries. Then again, Norr’s father was possibly right -- nothing in the far world surpassed the wonders of Nibb. Still, Norr thought, he would like to find that out for himself.

The King allowed himself a final restorative stretch and unleashed a cavernous yawn when the sound of clicking hooves and tinkling bell announced the arrival of a messenger pig. This was Chef's courier announcing the evening meal.

Doctor Hinkus said swine were incapable of smiling. Looking down at the welcoming face, Norr found that doubtful. With a last glance towards the watery expanse, Norr hurried behind his four-legged escort towards a table of steaming spudcakes, patiently waiting, and eager to make his acquaintance. "

Brandon Cass is not your average teenager. He has a taste for blood—human blood. For sixteen years, he stumbled through life without a hitch until the enigmatic aroma of blood awakened something dark within him. Visions of a beautiful young woman with chocolate brown hair and ocean blue eyes haunt his mind, yet her identity is a puzzling mystery.

His hunger for blood strengthens, and the cravings become too powerful to control. No one is safe, not even his family. To safeguard all he once found dear, Brandon sets out on a quest for answers. In an unfamiliar city, he comes face-to-face with the beautiful young woman, confronts the dark force which controls him, and learns what he must endure to reclaim his soul.

Nora knows three things: she is a servant, her parents are dead, and she lives in the kitchen house with her adoptive family. But her world is torn apart when she discovers that her birth father has always been right there, living in the house she serves.

This discovery leads Nora to more questions. Why was she thrown in an ash-covered room for asking about her father? Why is a silver-bladed knife the only inheritance from her birth mother? Why is magic forbidden in her household—and throughout the province of the Runes? The answers may not be the ones Nora hoped for, as they threaten a possible romance and her relationship with the adoptive family she loves.

With the announcement of a royal ball, Nora must decide what she is willing to give up in order to claim her stolen birthright, and whether this new life is worth losing her family—and herself.​CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

EXCERPTChapter 1

I sat at the window with the sun on my face, slicing tomatoes I picked from the vine that climbed the back of the kitchen house. On the other side of the room, Greta hummed an old tune. The words tickled at the fringes of my memory, not quite making their way to my lips. I hadn’t heard them since she used to sing me to sleep almost seven years ago. When I was six, old enough to hold my knife, hearth-lit songs and dreams had been replaced with work.Tomato juice sluiced across the cutting board as I bore down with my blade. The carvings that covered its handle had practically tattooed themselves on my palm. I imagined it had been the same way for my real mother—the knife had once been hers.“Nora, Robert stopped by while you were outside,” Greta said, arm-deep in a bowl of dough. “He said there’s a new woman and her son coming sometime this week. They’re going to work here with us.”“Why?” I said, glancing up from the mess of tomatoes on my board. The kitchen house already felt small with Greta, Peter, and me living there.Greta shrugged. “Sir Alcander must have thought we needed the help.”Bright pain burst through my hand. I drew a breath and looked down at where my knife had bitten into my finger.“Are you okay?” Greta asked.“I’m fine.” I hid my finger under the table until she turned back to her dough. I didn’t want her to take away my knife.“Anyway, we’ll need to clear out some space in the loft.”“Mm-hmm.” I held up my hand and stared at the red teardrop of blood glinting in the sunlight. It was beautiful, I decided. Like a jewel. I wrapped a rag around my finger before Greta could see it.A chirrup of delight sounded outside. Siobhan and Annabelle had come out to play. Even though they rarely acknowledged me, I swore that the girls, the daughters of Sir Alcander and Lady Portia, played in view of the kitchen house just to remind me that they had the time and leisure to play when I did not.“Greta!” Siobhan ran up to my window and leaned inside. “Do you have any chocolate?” Her voice was sweet, a voice that tried to please.Greta knew better. “No dessert before tea.”Siobhan’s innocent mask fell off. “I said give us some chocolate. I’ll tell mother if you don’t.”There was a fleeting moment when I thought Greta might say no. Tell them to say please. Make them ask nicely like she would make me do if I ever talked to her like that. Instead she shook her head and went to the shelf to get the chocolate. She never would have given in to me, but my mother wasn’t the lady of the house.“Ella-Della!” Annabelle peeked her head through the window as she reached for the chocolate.“Not Ella-Della,” I said. “Nora.” Della was the name of the simple milkmaid in one of Annabelle’s favorite stories. Her stupidity always got her in trouble with the lord of her household. Once I had the misfortune of walking by with a bucket of water while Portia was outside, telling the story to the girls.“Look, there goes Della now,” Portia said. At the time, I didn’t even know what the name meant, but the way she laughed let me know it wasn’t a compliment. Siobhan and Annabelle echoed her laughter and her words, and the name stuck.“Ella-Della, we heard a secret,” Annabelle said through a mouthful of chocolate.Siobhan shushed her. “I said I was going to tell her!”She picked up a piece of tomato from my cutting board and threw it at my face. Warm, acidy juice trickled down my cheek. I wiped it off with my rag. Annabelle murmured in disgust at the blood that streaked the cloth.“You’re going to want to hear it,” Siobhan said as I moved the cutting board out of her reach. “It’s about you.” She looked at Greta, who pretended not to pay attention, then back at me. “Meet us by the tree.”“Race you!” Annabelle shouted and ran into the field. Siobhan followed. I imagined them tripping in their silk slippers and staining their dresses with dirt.As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was curious about what they had to say. But I also knew Greta would not let me leave until my work was done. I picked another tomato out of my basket, cut a slit into the side, and squeezed it so the slit cracked into a mouth.“I have a secret! It’s about you, Ella-Della. Now give me chocolate!” Pulp lolled out of the tomato-mouth.I wished Peter were here. His stories full of chivalrous heroes, brave maidens, talking animals, and the occasional fairy always made time go faster. But Peter was up on top of the main house, patching the roof again. I wished I were up there with him, outside and above everything, but Greta had insisted I stay with her.“What if you fell off the roof?” she said as we ate breakfast.“Then you’d heal me and make me all better,” I replied.“Lucky.” Peter grinned as he drank the last of his tea. “She’d leave me for dead.”“You know that’s true,” Greta said, and we all laughed. She and Peter had been married for so long that she liked to say that their jokes about killing each other were sometimes serious.I looked out the window at where Siobhan and Annabelle had settled themselves under the hazel tree in the middle of the field.“Greta?” I said. “Can I go outside?”Greta tsked and shook her head. “You know those girls don’t have anything worthwhile to say.”I bit the inside of my cheek. I wanted Greta to be right, but there had been a wicked delight in Siobhan’s eyes that made me think that she really did have a secret to share. There was no way I was going to let her keep it to lord over me later.Greta waved her hand. “Put the soup on, then go.”I diced the rest of the tomatoes and carried the cutting board to the pot that hung over the fire in the hearth. The tomatoes went in on top of the carrots, parsnips, and rosemary that I threw in earlier that morning. I poured a pitcher of water on top of the vegetables and wiped my knife on my apron. The tomato pulp left an orange swath across the fabric.“Now?”Greta nodded. Her long braid fell over her shoulder as she worked. She pushed it back behind her. “Go. But you’re a glutton for punishment. And I’m not going to stop your soup from boiling over.”I untied my apron and hung it over my chair by the window. I usually took my knife outside with me so I could use the handle to smash open the skins of the hazelnuts. Greta watched me with a raised eyebrow and the hint of a smile on her face. I left the knife behind.I could feel Greta watching from the window as I crossed the field behind the kitchen house. Smoke meandered from the chimney, a reminder of the soup that would boil soon. The kitchen house was a squat brown-and-grey stone block compared to the massive size of the main house next to it. I could walk to the main house in minutes, but it felt like it was miles away. I’d never been inside. Greta always murmured something about my being too young when I asked if I could help bring in dinner.Siobhan and Annabelle sat on the grass under the hazel tree. I bristled at their presence. I claimed the tree for myself long ago. It was close to the rest of the forest but set off by itself, pulsing with a secret, solitary life. I used to climb over its branches, rubbing my feet over the smooth bark and leaning my ear against the trunk to listen for a heartbeat.It was my tree, alone and proud. I didn’t want them playing near it.Siobhan sat with her legs tucked under her skirt, pulling up blades of grass, knotting them, and throwing them at Annabelle. She threw a clod of roots and dirt at me. It landed harmlessly an arm’s-length away. I was sure that if I hadn’t already gathered most of the hazelnuts from the ground that morning, Siobhan would be throwing them instead.“What took you so long?”“I had work to do.” I put my hands on my hips, trying to look imposing. Siobhan stood up and brushed off her skirt. Even though I was more than a year older, she was taller and always managed to look down on me.“Of course,” she said, miming forgetfulness. “Ella-Della is our servant.”“Della, Della, Ella-Della,” Annabelle sang. “Fetched some milk and met a fella.” She was ten, a year younger than Siobhan. Her face screwed up in an expression of intense concentration as she tried to remember the next part of the song.“What is it?” I asked. “You said you had something to tell me.”“You need to earn it, Ella-Della.” Siobhan pointed to the top of the tree where the tail end of one of Annabelle’s bird-shaped toys stuck out between the leaves.“Why don’t you get it yourself?” I said.Siobhan snorted. “Climbing trees is not ladylike, Ella-Della.”Annabelle, having given up on the song, fit a chain of clovers on top of her golden curls. As she and Siobhan waited, ladylike, on the ground, I grabbed the lowest branch and swung up into the tree. There was a curved branch halfway up that I liked to sit on. I stopped there, balancing with one hand against the trunk. The toy was stuck between the branches far above my head.“Just because it’s a bird doesn’t mean it can fly,” I called down.Cocooned among the dark, jagged leaves, I couldn’t see Siobhan. But the leaves didn’t stop her voice from reaching me.“Just because you look like a horse doesn’t mean you can run.”I continued to climb. Greta was right. They didn’t have anything useful to tell me. They just wanted someone to get Annabelle’s bird.The cloud-dappled sky came into view near the crown of the tree. The toy’s red body stood out from the green around it. I stood on my tiptoes on a thin branch and stretched to reach it. My fingers brushed against the painted wood, and it plummeted out of the tree, hitting branches and smashing to the grass below. I climbed down as slowly as I could.Annabelle held the bird’s wooden body in one hand and the wing that had broken off in the other. Her cheeks were reddened with anger. She started to speak, but Siobhan brushed her off.“Father will buy you a new one,” she said. “Tell him that Ella-Della broke it. He’ll take it out of her wages.”I shuffled my feet, which smarted from landing on the ground. What did they even know about my wages? I’d never seen any of the money due to me—I always assumed Peter and Greta kept it safe for when I was older. What did I need it for, anyway? When he went to the Market, Peter used his own wages to buy me small toys or the charcoals and chalk I used whenever he or Greta had time to give me lessons. Did Sir Alcander take from my wages any time I did something he didn’t like? I’d only ever seen the man from a distance, but he seemed imposing enough that I could imagine him doing it.“Ella-Della,” Siobhan said, “don’t you want to know the secret?”“No.” I turned back to the kitchen house.“I heard Mother and Father talking in the parlor. They thought I was in bed, but I was getting those black biscuits from the servants’ rooms.”Annabelle dropped her toy back on the ground. “You said I could come with you! I wanted biscuits, too!”“Those were for the house servants,” I said. Greta and I made the thin bilberry biscuits a week ago. It was my idea to smash up the berries to give the dough its dark color.Siobhan went on as though she hadn’t heard me. “Mother and Father were talking and Mother said, ‘Someday she’s going to find out, and when she does, she’s going to want to know why, Alcander.’” She did a pitch-perfect impression of her mother, cocking her head just like I’d seen Lady Portia do.Curiosity won out. “Why what?”Siobhan opened her mouth to answer, but Annabelle got there first.“Why you live in the kitchen house when your father is in the main house.” She gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. Siobhan looked around. Her haughty expression was gone, replaced by guilt. She was not good at burying her thoughts. They were telling the truth.Siobhan’s moment of humility didn’t last long. “I always thought your father lived in the oven,” she said. “That would explain why your arms are all messed up.”I crossed my arms behind me, trying to hide the pink burns scarred onto my skin.“You’re lying,” I said. Even if they actually heard Lady Portia say those words, what she said wasn’t possible. Greta and Peter were my parents. My real mother died in childbirth, and my father followed her to the World Apart soon afterwards. That’s what Greta and Peter always said. But the hazel tree brightened behind Siobhan’s head, and my feet felt lighter than before, like they weren’t quite touching the ground. It might have been hope.“Am not,” Siobhan snapped. “I’m being nice. I just thought you’d want to know that your father threw you away in the kitchen house so he wouldn’t have to see your ugly face every day. See if I ever do anything for you again.”She turned on her heels and hauled Annabelle back to the main house. I stood there for a moment, letting the colors of my small world return to normal. I couldn’t go back to the kitchen house, not yet, not if what they said was true. Why would Greta and Peter tell me that my father had passed? Was his presence the reason I wasn’t allowed in the main house? He could be there, waiting for me to come find him. Did he know who I was? Did he even want me?“Nora!” Greta’s voice pierced through the fog of questions swirling around me. “The soup is burning!”I ran back to the kitchen house and hefted the pot off the fire. I hadn’t put in enough water, and what I did add had boiled away. I poured in two pitchers this time and put the pot back on the hearth, hoping no one would notice the vegetables’ smoky taste. I barely heard Greta’s reprimands as I ran through the list of men who worked in the main house. There were three male servants: Matthew, Sir Alcander’s valet, was married to Sarah, the head maid. They came to work at the Runes when I was eight, so it couldn’t be Matthew. Victor, the footman, was only seventeen. The only one left was Robert, the butler. He began working at the Runes before Greta and Peter, and he was certainly old enough to have a daughter my age. He had only ever been kind to me when he came to deliver messages or get food from the kitchen house.Someone knocked at the door. Greta opened it, and there he was. Breath caught in my throat.“Robert.” Greta nodded, and he came inside.“The new kitchen maid will arrive from the Vale the day after tomorrow.”“From the Vale?” Greta sounded surprised, but I didn’t understand why. “Is she Kindred?”“She and Alcander are like-minded when it comes to”—he glanced over at me—“the goings-on at the Vale.”I held Robert’s gaze for as long as I could, scrutinizing his features. He carried himself with a dignified air, stately even. He took pride in his work, which was probably why he’d been employed at the Runes longer than any of the other servants. His hair was wiry and grey. I ran a hand through the scraggily, dark red tangle on my head. I’d never met anyone else with my thick, ratty hair. Greta’s braid, while heavy, was smooth and dark. Annabelle and Siobhan’s curls were always brushed to perfection. Robert’s hair reminded me of trees I had seen in the woods that had been struck by lightning, an image I often associated with myself when I looked in the mirror. I could imagine his hair being the same color as mine once upon a time. His eyes were grey instead of gold like mine, but I could have gotten my eyes from my mother.Had Robert ever been married? He wasn’t now. Maybe he had a wife who died in childbirth, and he couldn’t bear to have the child near him because she—I—reminded him too much of her. It was all very romantic. I wanted to rush over to him, but I held back. What if I were wrong? I would just embarrass myself.Robert and Greta’s conversation ended with the determination that Peter would meet the new servants in the woods west of the Runes proper the next day. Robert brushed past me on his way out.“Nora.” He nodded at me.I wanted to follow him back to the main house, but as soon as the door closed behind him, I turned to Greta.“My parents,” I said. “My real parents—do you know who they were?”She startled at the abruptness of the question. “Why are you asking this now? Did the girls say something?”“I just want to know.”Greta beckoned for me to sit down with her.“You know the answer. The couple who worked in the kitchen house before us gave you to Peter and me.”“But those people weren’t my parents,” I said.“They didn’t say who your parents were,” Greta continued. “Only that they’d passed, and you needed someone to take care of you. We always wanted a child, and—” She stopped talking when it became obvious I wasn’t listening. This was a story I knew by heart, but it wasn’t mine anymore.Greta narrowed her eyes. “What did the girls say to you?”I stood up. “Nothing.”I went back to my seat by the window, put my apron on, and began to mash up a pile of sprigberries that Greta had put on the table while I was outside. If she and Peter knew anything about my real parents, they would have no reason to hide it from me. They gave me my mother’s knife, after all. Sir Alcander and Lady Portia obviously knew, but I couldn’t ask them. Lady Portia’s visits to the kitchen house were rare and always came with demands. Less salt in the soup or an extra dessert tart for Siobhan and Annabelle. She gusted in and out, never staying for longer than her words and never looking in my direction. Sir Alcander never even set foot near the kitchen house. The only times I’d laid eyes on him had been through a window when I brought something to Peter while he was patching the exterior of the main house. I knew Sir Alcander more by his maps. Peter had one in the kitchen house, and he used it to teach me the geography of Colandaria. Sir Alcander’s intricate compass roses were more familiar to me than his face.No, I would not get answers from either of them. But I would go to the main house. I had to talk to Robert.

***

“Good morning, early riser. Any chance you made breakfast while we were sleeping?” Peter said as he climbed the ladder down from the loft and joined me in the kitchen, where I’d been trying to quiet the pounding of my heart since before sunup. He put his arm around me and kissed my forehead. The bristles of his short beard tickled my chin. All fathers should feel like this, I thought.I had to keep myself from trailing behind him when he brought breakfast to the main house. I would have to wait until everyone was doing their work before I could go inside. I’d seen Greta and Peter go in the back door of the main house as often as I’d seen Robert, Sarah, or one of the other servants come out of it on their way across the field. The servants’ quarters were supposed to be right near the entrance. There had to be something there that would tell me about Robert.I picked at my breakfast. The nervous flutter in my stomach made me too nauseated to eat. I’d occasionally thought about my real parents resting in the World Apart. Their ashes would have been given to the wind somewhere meaningful. Someone would have held me nearby to ensure that their spirits would watch over me. Growing up, though, I had the parents I needed. Greta and Peter gave me a fire burning in the hearth, a garden to pick food from, and stories to fill warm nights in the loft.Now, with just a few words from Siobhan and Annabelle, I needed more.No one would be in the main house servants’ quarters after breakfast. I waited until Peter went outside to repair the fence around the chicken coop and Greta began making her daily bread at the counter that faced away from the window.“I’m going to see if any more tomatoes are ripe,” I said as Greta took out caraway seeds and flour and put them next to the eggs that I gathered from the coop before breakfast.She nodded, and I headed out, glancing back to make sure that she had started on the dough. While she was busy measuring ingredients, I ran across the field to the main house and went in the back entrance. Once inside, I cracked open the first door I came to. The room I entered was about the size of the floor of the kitchen house, large enough to fit six beds. Some belongings—probably Victor’s, since Peter always complained what a mess Victor was when he came back from bringing in supper—were strewn about the floor, while others sat on shelves or against the wall. The largest bed would belong to Matthew and Sarah. That left only a few beds that could be Robert’s. A green satin vest with gold edging hung on a stand across the room. That had to be his. He would wear it to serve at Sir Alcander’s and Lady Portia’s banquets. Robert’s shelves were bare except for a few books and a tin of my bilberry biscuits. I warmed at the thought that my father had a stash of my cooking. There was something else on the shelf, something flat enough that I couldn’t see what it was. I stood on my tiptoes and retrieved a palm-sized agate cameo. The carving was of a young woman not more than twenty years old. She was lovely, with long, wavy hair tied back with a large bow.Was this my mother? In profile, it was difficult to make out anything specific about her features. I wished her image were in color so I could see if she had my gold eyes. I had to talk to Robert before I lost my nerve. I went back to the hallway with the cameo clutched in my fist. I didn’t know where to go, but I did know that I would be in trouble if I were caught roaming the halls. I picked a direction, glancing around each corner before proceeding as I looked for a shock of steely grey hair.Portraits lined the hallway. All of the subjects wore the same shade of dark green that marked them as the noble family of the Runes. I stopped in front of a painting that depicted Sir Alcander and Lady Portia posing with younger versions of Siobhan and Annabelle. The artist captured the girls’ smug expressions well. The paint in Siobhan’s eyes shined with mischief. Lady Portia’s every hair was defined. The painter had arranged his light source to highlight her sharp, elegant cheekbones. Sir Alcander’s eyes were duller than those of Lady Portia or their daughters. Even Annabelle’s eyes twinkled with specks of white that were missing in her father’s.“Nora?”I wheeled around to face Sarah, the head maid.“What are you doing here?”I looked at the floor. The grey and green grain of the marble flowed like the lines on one of Sir Alcander’s maps. I ran the tip of my shoe along one of the paths.“I’m looking for Robert,” I said. “I need to talk to him. It’s important.”“He’s taking dictation for Sir Alcander.” Sarah looked past me down the hall. “He’ll be done soon. Come with me.”She put a hand on my back and ushered me in the direction from which I’d come.“You’re not supposed to be in here,” she said.“I know.” I tucked the cameo into my pocket. “But it’s important. Don’t tell Greta, please.”Sarah glanced behind us. The pressure of her hand on my back became more urgent.“It’s not Greta I’m worried about.” She opened the door to the servants’ quarters and pushed me inside. “Stay here. I’ll get Robert.”She left the door open a crack and hurried down the hall. I sat on Robert’s bed. A long piece of straw poked out of the mattress. I pulled it out from the fabric and broke a piece off the end. By the time Robert arrived, shutting the door behind him, there was a small pile of straw on my lap. I leapt off the bed, spilling it on the floor.“Sorry.” I bent down to sweep the straw into my hand. Robert knelt to help me.“Nora, what are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be—”“I need to talk to you,” I said. “It’s about my—” The word stuck on my tongue. “Um, Siobhan and Annabelle said that…” I took the cameo out of my pocket. “Who is this?”Robert snatched it out of my hand. “What are you doing with this?”My cheeks burned. “I found it on the shelf. Is it your wife?”The angry lines on Robert’s face softened. “No, it’s my sister. She died a long time ago. Why do you ask?”I sat on the bed. I felt heavy enough that I might sink into the straw and never come out.“Siobhan and Annabelle said they heard Lady Portia and Sir Alcander talking, and they said that my—” I choked out the word. “—father was in the main house. I thought that you might be—”Robert moved away, dropping the straw into a bucket next to the bed. I sank farther into the mattress. Being poked with spindles of straw was preferable to the silence in the room.“Your father?” Robert said. “Nora, the man who was your father is long gone.”“But you have to be,” I protested. “Your hair, it’s just like mine.”“What, this old mess?” Robert ran a hand through his hair and sat down next to me.My voice dropped to a whisper. “It has to be you.”“I’m sorry, Nora. I don’t have any children. Peter’s been a good father to you, hasn’t he?”“Yes.” I could feel each razor of straw jabbing into my skin. “I just thought—”Wait. What did he say?“You know who my father was!” It came out as a statement, not a question. Robert jumped up from the bed.“No, Nora, you misunderstood. I—”“Yes, you do!” I leapt up after him. “You said he was gone, but you know who he was. Tell me!”Robert’s eyes darted back and forth as if he were looking for a way to escape the conversation before fixing on a point behind me. Panic tinged his voice.“She was just bringing a message from the kitchen house.”I turned to see Lady Portia standing on the other side of the door. I hadn’t heard it open. Waves of anger passed through her cold ocean eyes. I had only ever seen Lady Portia angry, but this was different. This was rage, and it was aimed squarely at me.Robert put a protective arm around my shoulders.“I’m sending her back right now.”“Eleanor.” Lady Portia’s voice was ice cracking. “You are not permitted in here.”“I'm sorry,” I croaked. “I’ll go back.” This was different from Sarah’s confusion at finding me in the hall or Robert’s initial anger at discovering his cameo in my hands. Different, and infinitely more dangerous.Before I could move, Lady Portia was in the room, grabbing my arm and wrenching me from Robert’s grasp. I could feel her breath on my cheeks as she pulled me close.“You are supposed to stay in the kitchen house,” she hissed. She jerked me out of the room and down the hall.“Ma’am—” Robert started after us.“Stay where you are,” Portia said without turning to look at him. “This is none of your business.”I looked back, panicked, as I flailed in my attempt to keep up with Lady Portia’s long stride. I heard the sound of the back door being thrown open. I could only hope Robert was going to get Greta or Peter.Lady Portia’s fingers burned on my arm as she pulled me behind her, making a series of turns through the hallways. Anytime I opened my mouth to protest, to apologize, to cry, she jerked me forwards, and my words were swallowed in a yelp of pain. She finally stopped in front of a plain, wooden door. It felt out of place next to the other doors in the hallway, which were lacquered and covered in carvings. Its austerity didn’t belong, just like I didn’t.My wrist glowed red when Lady Portia let me go, and I rubbed my arm to quell the pain. My mouth ran ahead of me, spitting out every apology I could think of. She ignored me as she sorted through the keys on a ring she took from her dress pocket and fit a large iron key into the lock. The door creaked open. I couldn’t make out anything inside—there were no windows to let in the light. The darkness in the room felt different than when the kitchen house darkened after sunset. This darkness was hungry. I turned to run.Portia caught my wrist and shoved me into the room. I fell on my hands and knees. Small pieces of something—dust? ash?—rose up around me, making their way into my throat. I started to cough.“Never ask about your father again.” She slammed the door, plunging me into the dark. The door fit so snugly in its frame that there wasn’t even a sliver of light shining at the bottom.It was a moment before my shock allowed me to react. The room smelled scorched with death, like it hadn’t been opened in ages. I coughed again, trying to get out the pieces of the room that had infiltrated my throat, my nostrils, my eyes. I shuffled forwards until I reached the door and felt for the knob. It was cold to the touch. I pulled as hard as I could, but it would not turn.“Robert!” I screamed. “Sarah! Peter! Greta!” I kept screaming their names until my throat was raw. The fine powder that covered the floor stuck to me wherever my body touched the damp ground. There were voices down the hall, but they were too far away for me to hear what they were saying.“Father?” I whispered.My arm ached where I could feel a bruise blooming around my wrist. I wanted Peter and Greta. I wanted my father and my mother, but I didn’t know their names. Only the darkness held me as I cried.

I'm Mark Morrison. I'm originally from a teeny-tiny town in Ohio called Salem. My father used to say that it was the armpit of the country. Peeuuw! I have seven brothers and sisters, a slew of nieces and nephews and a couple dozen great nieces and nephews. I now live in Florida with my loving wife, four children and two beautiful grand-babes. It's hot, but it's just a sticky, obnoxiously wet heat. Hahaha!

My father used to say that I was an uneducated genius. I'm not exactly sure what he meant by that. I suppose it was because I spent most of my time in school more involved in sports and art classes growing up than mathematics, history or science. I did, however, sneak in several elective credits as a librarian's assistant. That was a whole lot of fun and I was able to read a ton of awesome books.

As a boy I grew up reading things like The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew mysteries, and the classics, like Huckleberry Finn and Charlotte's Web. I also read some outstanding comics and MAD magazines. But as I got older my taste changed. I was big into Isaac Asimov, George Orwell and Edgar Allen Poe. I didn't just read. I watched a little Television as well. Star Trek, Dark Shadows, The Twilight Zone, Dr. Who, Andy Griffith, Mary Tyler Moore, the Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island rounded out some dull afternoons.

As most folks with large families know, board games are an inexpensive way to entertain ourselves. We'd always get a batch of new games at Christmas along with a new pair of socks and underwear. On one particular low budget Christmas, my father introduced us to a game he claimed he'd invented called, “Uh!”

We'd all gather in the living room and one of us was elected to start. That person would have to create a totally fictitious story out of thin air. They'd pause mid-sentence and let the next player take over from there. This continued around the room until someone hesitated or said “uh”. That player was out and the game continued until only one person was left. The stories were creative and often incredibly strange, each of us attempting to make the next in line chuckle and fumble. It was an awesome game of improvisation and I credit my love of storytelling to that silly game.

Every night my mind is inundated with a fresh batch of unusual dreams and nightmares, always in outlandish worlds and dimensions fraught with bizarre characters who can do wondrous things. But through my writings I've allowed some of them to escape onto the freedom of the blank pages and into my first novel, Twospells. I'll pardon another batch of weird mind games and characters in future books.

TwoSpells is a magical tale about a set of teenage twins, Sarah and Jon, who find out that they're heirs to an ancient, magical realm containing an enchanted library that can transport a reader to anywhere or anytime the author has written into the story.

They're soon caught up in an inter-dimensional war between good and evil, both sides looking to claim the library's unique magical enchantment. Along the way, the twins meet astonishing and fascinating characters who can do amazing things, but not all are good. Some are of unspeakably horrific creation and are bent on one thing: destroying the two strange intruders who have entered and disrupted their sacred two-dimensional domain.

Sarah and Jon must leave behind their much simpler life as Regulars and embrace their new positions as successors to a very special kingdom designed for their kind only, the Irregulars. I truly believe you'll enjoy every moment of this story.

I've attached a snapshot of me and my daughter Sarah, whom the phenomenal heroine of TwoSpells is based. She's beautiful, tough and clever.

SYNOPSISSarah and her twin brother Jon are heirs to an ancient magical realm and its most valuable treasure, an enchanted library. The library endows readers with the supernatural means of crossing into the uncharted inner-sanctum of the second dimension, inhabited with peculiar and sometimes perilous creatures.

The children are emboldened with a wondrous mystical gift that no other being has ever possessed. But fate intervenes and triggers a disastrous inter-dimensional war that disrupts the fabric of time and space spanning multiple universes, tearing destiny a new and savage pathway.

The two must rescue their world from a phantom hybrid alien race controlled by a demented dark-wizard, Jeremy Sermack. They will either assimilate or be exterminated.

Will they be the saviors the prophets spoke of, or will they retreat to the perceived safety of their distant homeland?

"Durant’s story is slyly whimsical as she builds up the world of Marbryn, a world where there are many wonders, but also threats to the existence of Blue’s tribe." - Jack Magnus From Reader's Favorite.

"The Blue Unicorn…reads like old time fairy tales…where life and death choices are made…" - From Fundinmental As The Eyes See It Blog

"The gentle reminders of the importance of acceptance and maintaining a sense of self worth are artfully woven into this fun adventure tale." - From The Reading Addict Blog.

This YA book is perfect for fans of science fiction/fantasy books like Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey and The Xanth Series by Piers Anthony or illustrated fantasies like Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and The Wizard of Oz series of books by L. Frank Baum. Mix in some Brother's Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale themes and you're good to enter this enchanting world of the metal horn unicorn tribe.

Everybody loves unicorns! OK maybe they don't but for those who do, they will love this story about a little unicorn who was born into a tribe of magical, metal horned unicorns. The little guy has no magic and he has no metal but somehow he must save the tribe from an evil sorcerer. Read this book for teens and older readers to find out if he can do it.CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

EXCERPTTHE ENTIRE TRIBE WAS IN THE COURTYARD WAITING FOR BLUE.

He should have already arrived. Now, he was twenty minutes late and they were getting restless.

“What’s so important anyway?” Cornum grouched. He looked across the room to where Alumna and Ghel stood alone.

The oracle was whispering in hopes no one else would hear but all ears swiveled her way at, “The Moon-star is coming.”

That was real news! All the others surrounded them, talking at once.

Flustered, Alumna found a break in the questions being thrown at her to ask Ghel to go see what was taking Blue so long.

Upon entering their stall, the gold-horned unicorn noticed something fluttering on the desk. It was the letter for her from Blue.

“Oh no," she cried, after reading it. “He’s left alone!”

She put on the necklace he had left her and raced out of the Halstable.

“He can’t be very far away yet. I’ll find him and bring him back,” she said to herself. She did not think it would take long so she left without alerting the others.

Ghel followed Blue’s hoof tracks for many miles until they ended in the hard rocky dirt. Looking up, she realized she was completely lost. She moved forward, stretching her neck to look around and tripped on a sharp rock jutting from the ground.

The sweet scent of blood flowing from a gash on her knee caught the attention of a very hungry manticore. He followed the smell until he came upon a natural land bridge right at the north-western point of the Kinubalu Desert. The bridge was a short-cut across a deep, wide canyon. It ended near the edge of the Guarded Forest.On the other side of the canyon, the manticore saw a blue unicorn standing a few feet from a thick green wall made up of huge spiky vines.

He dashed across the bridge, hoping to catch the unaware unicorn. Halfway across, he skidded to a stop. “What happened to the scent of blood?” he wondered. It was gone and he was confused.

As he tried to figure it out, the vines loosened up and opened a space just big enough for the unicorn to step through. “Arrgh! Lost him,” he groaned, as the thorned vines closed up tight. His empty belly rumbled.

The blue unicorn was safe. The Guarded Forest would not let a predator like the manticore in. Disappointed at losing his dinner, the beast turned back across the bridge.

To his delight, the scent of blood reappeared. Just a few yards away was the gold-horned unicorn, head down, stumbling his direction. She was wounded, paying no attention her surroundings.The manticore wetted his lips. This one would make a good meal and there was no way she could escape.

A shiver ran along Ghel's spine. She felt like someone or something was watching every stumbling step she took. Intense fear gripped her heart, making it beat faster. “Something dangerous is out there and it’s close,” she thought.

She stopped and looked around, trying to find the source of the danger.

The manticore smiled to see how fear made her eyes glow white against her honey-colored coat. He smiled because fear gave the meat a better flavor. Abruptly, he asked, "Do you want a moment to say your prayers before I send you to your maker?"

Ghel's eyes snapped up to meet those of the ugly beast. The look she saw frightened her out of her wits. There was no way to escape.

"Oh, where can Nix be?" she blurted out. "Doesn't he know I'm in serious danger?"

Nix always arrived in the nick of time when a unicorn was in trouble. His powerful horn could detect a unicorn in distress from twenty miles away.

Indeed, Nix did detect that Ghel was in big trouble all the way from the crowded Great Room of the Halstable. A huge warning tingle forced Nix’s head to swing abruptly around. His nickel horn aimed in the direction of Ghel like a compass needle.

With a shake of his dark gray mane, he nodded a salute to Silubhra, saying, "Ghel is in danger but never fear, I will rescue her in the nick of time.” A blaze of light filled the air with silvery sparkles as he disappeared into the brightness.

Upon hearing Ghel’s words, the manticore twisted his neck around, trying to see who she was talking about. Seeing nothing, he thought, “The silly thing has taken leave of her senses!”Laughter boomed from his terrible throat. It stopped when he caught glimmers of light just behind the frightened filly.

When Nix fully materialized, he took note of the dangerous situation, saying, "Stand aside, Ghel, while I nix that needle!"

The manticore had heard of Nix, the great unicorn defender. He skittered away in fright, trying to escape. Nix aimed a powerful blast from his nickel horn toward the brute. It was meant to destroy the scorpion stinger at the end of its tail but Nix missed his target.

The land bridge was hit instead. It loudly crumbled away into the giant hole it had spanned. The short cut across the canyon was completely destroyed.

Nix was angry he had accidentally destroyed the only easy path to the Guarded Forest. He caught up to the manticore and tapped his stinger with his spiraled horn. To the manticore’s horror, the tip of his tail completely disappeared.

Teenage girls don’t believe in fairy tales, and sixteen-year old Elena Watkins was no different.Until the night a fairy tale killed her father.Now Elena’s in a new world, and a new school. The cutest guy around may be an evil dragon, a Prince wants Elena’s heart, and a long dead sorcerer may be waking up to kill her. Oh. And the only way Elena’s going to graduate is on the back of a dragon of her own.Teenage girls don’t believe in fairy tales. Now it’s time for Elena to believe – in herself.CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

EXCERPTA GIRL SINGING HER heart out about a miracle boomed inside my ear. A miracle would get me what I needed: a chance at a semi-normal life.The bedroom door hitting the wall expelled the thought from my mind. With his hand tangled up in his copper hair, and with huge brown eyes, Dad’s figure filled the entire doorway. “Pack your bags.” He had that set to his jaw, the one that meant there was no way out of this. He bolted out of the room just as suddenly as he had appeared.I ground my teeth, hard. A sharp pain behind my eyes, I guessed from the lack of sleep, grew stronger. Every fiber of my being wanted to explode.Ever since I could remember my name, Dad and I had been on the run. From what? Beats me.For the past two weeks, I’d been pacing through the house, struggling to fall asleep at night, waiting for this day.For the love of blueberries, no sixteen-year-old should live this way!I climbed off my bed, and the first step I took left my toe tangled in the wide leg of my jeans. I tried to regain my balance as the closet inched closer, but with wildly flailing arms, I came crashing down. The thud reverberated across the wooden floor, and it sounded as if I’d broken something.Dad darted back into my room. “Are you okay?” He lifted me back onto my feet as if I weighed nothing.Tears lurked in the corners of my eyes, as I stared up at him.“Don’t give me that look, Elena. Please, we need to hurry.” He pulled my suitcase from the top shelf and chucked it haphazardly onto my bed. “We need to go. Now.”“Dad...”He started to grab my clothes from the shelf and tossed them messily inside my small suitcase. Then he paused, sighed, and looked up with soft eyes. He stroked the side of my cheek. “This...” He looked past me. “...wasn’t the right place, Bear. Please, you’ve got to trust me.”He reached back to pull everything off my shelf, while I curled my hands into balls of fury. My heart pounded fast as those two words bounced inside my skull. “Trust you?”“Elena, we don’t have much time,” he yelled. “Pack your bags! You can ask questions later.” He left, and the hollow thump from his stomping footsteps rang loudly as he made his way into the hall.Ask questions? Yeah right! I’ll only get answers that don’t reveal why we are on the run for the gazillionth time. “Trust me” and “I’ll tell you when the time is right” were the only two answers Dad gave. Guess the time with him will never be right.It was no use arguing with him anyway. Once, he had thrown me over his shoulder and carried me out without any of my things.So I grabbed the stuff I needed: my MP3 player, a photo of Mom and me on my first birthday that Dad didn’t know I had, and my journal from underneath my bed. I tossed them into my backpack. It wasn’t much, but it was the stuff that made my miserable life feel less pathetic. I zipped up my suitcase and took a deep breath. Looking around my bedroom for the last time, I said goodbye to my sixtieth-something room.Dad almost ran me over in the hall, his army bag slung over his shoulder. He grumbled, which I assumed was an apology, took my suitcase, and ran downstairs. He always rented these huge old houses, pre-furnished and near the countryside, and we always left after three months.The pickup’s horn honked as I shut the front door. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath. Just two more years, then I’ll be eighteen and free from this freak show. Huge raindrops fell hard onto the ground. The smell of wet dirt filled the air. It was my favorite smell.The water that pooled on the ground covered all the gaps in the driveway, forcing me to hopscotch around all of them. My shoe got caught in one of the gaps and I smacked down hard in a huge puddle. By the time I reached the truck, my jeans and shoes dripped with water.Warm heat from the vents inside the truck hit me full blast as I jumped in; a million goosebumps erupted across my skin. As soon as I shut the rusty door, Dad floored the gas pedal. Tires screeched and the truck spun away as if the devil were chasing us. My lower lip quivered softly as he swerved onto the road. The streetlights flew by in a blur, and I plugged in my earphones. The same stupid song about a miracle boomed from my MP3 player, drowning the sound of the engine and the hard dribbles on the roof, a percussion that became the perpetual soundtrack to my misery.A feeling of utter loneliness consumed my heart while I stared out the window. Homes with white picket fences and a convenience store whizzed by in a flash. A tear rolled down my cheek. Saying a silent goodbye, I released my breath and watched as it created a foggy condensation on the glass. With my index finger, I reached out and drew a small heart. These were the reasons why Mom had left. She couldn’t handle his paranoia, but why she’d left her two-year-old daughter to deal with it was a mystery. Dad constantly reminded me of the latter; that was the only time he ever spoke of her. If he ever discovered I had that picture, he would kill me. That was how much he hated her for leaving us.The lights of a vehicle in the upcoming lane shone directly into my face. I shut my eyes, waiting for it to disappear. When I was little, I used to watch Dad as we drove away from yet another house. He would glare into his rearview mirror every five seconds, all the muscles in his face clenched, and his knuckles white on the steering wheel. I hadn’t been able to force myself to peek out the window then, as it used to scare the living crap out of me to consider the possible reasons why he was fleeing, or who might be following us. Now, I didn’t look at him or care much about what he was going through. He’d created this problem, with me becoming the luggage. It was a ritual I endured every three months, and nothing during the past sixteen years had ever changed that.The “Interstate 40” sign flew by in a whirl, and the pickup slowly moved onto the turnoff lane.My eyes started to burn as I stared at the rain running sideways against my window. Each rivet resembled another town, another place I could never again call home. Exhaustion consumed me and my eyelids felt heavy. I laid my head against the window and struggled to stay awake.Suddenly, a huge figure flew past me. Dad swerved to the left, which made me crash into his side. My entire body pumped with adrenaline. I jumped straight in my seat and tore out my earphones as I wrenched the seatbelt over my shoulder to buckle myself in, while trying to process what had just happened.“What was that?” I looked at Dad.His eyes huge, he kept checking his rearview mirror every five seconds. Beads of sweat rolled from his hairline down to the side of his temple. Sure, he was paranoid, but I’d never seen Dad this scared in my entire life. This was something more than his usual paranoia.“Dad!”“Did you see where it went?” he asked, attempting to inject calm into his voice, but I could hear the fear lacing each syllable.“See where what went? Dad, what was that?”“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”“For once in your life, just tell me!” I screamed. Sixteen years of frustration exploded from my lungs. I couldn’t take the unknown anymore.“Fine.” He mumbled something else that I didn’t catch. “Do you remember the stories I used to tell you?”“Stories? What stories?”“The stories about Paegeia, Elena.” He looked in his rearview mirror again.Vaguely, but I didn’t tell him that. “What does that have to do with this?”“They’re real.”I froze and stared at him.“All of it, it’s real. The dragons, the magic, the Wall, everything is real.”“Dragons!” I couldn’t believe this. “Is this why we’ve been on the run my whole life? That’s your reason?” I took a deep breath.“You can believe what you want, it doesn’t change the fact that they are real, and somewhere out there.” He looked over his shoulder.A figure with huge paws and talons flew in front of the truck. Tires screeched at the same time as I shrieked. The truck spun around a couple of times and came to a standstill on the dark stretch of road. My heart jumped at a great speed. My throat and lips became dry from my deep, heavy breathing.My face pushed against the cool glass of the passenger window, I searched the horizon for any sign of life. Apart from the pickup’s headlights, not a single light peeked through the blanketed darkness, and the rain crushing down made me see figures, but I couldn’t tell if they were real. Dragons don’t exist.“You okay?” my father yelled.“I’m fine.” I tore my gaze away from the window.His hands were on the door’s handle. “Elena, I need to get out—”“No, no, please don’t leave me here!” I grabbed his jacket. I could feel the fear beginning to rise again, and my vision became blurry. Why am I afraid? Dragons aren’t real.He cupped my face and made me look at him. I only noticed now how his hands trembled. “Listen to me, Elena. Listen!”I tried to swallow my tears, but it was no use. They were caught in the back of my throat, silencing me.He hugged me tightly and kissed me on my forehead. I could feel the love he had for me behind that kiss. “You drive like hell, you hear me? Don’t slow down for anybody. There’s a motel on Interstate Forty. Just stay on this road, you can’t miss it. Someone named Matt will meet you there.”“Dad, it’s pouring outside. I can’t leave you here with whatever...” We can sort this out rationally.Dad cringed and stared at his jeans When he looked at me again, that set to his jaw was back. My words hadn’t made any impact on him whatsoever. He had already made up his mind for the both of us.My strength returned as I slowly came to terms with what I had to do.A man appeared in the middle of the road. We both stared at him for a few seconds. I squinted, as the rain made it hard for me to see him, but the headlights of the truck outlined his figure. I looked back at Dad and could tell from the look on Dad’s face that this guy was no stranger.My gaze turned back to the guy in the rain. He was tall with long black hair; wet strands clung to his face. He wore a pair of pants, no t-shirt, and it looked like no shoes either. He stared at the pickup and it made my heart pound faster. He began to walk slowly toward us.“Dad?” I slapped his shoulder, trying to expel the fear from my body.“Elena.” He grabbed my wrist. “I’ll be fine. You need to go. Now. And, Bear, I’m so sorry. Whatever happens, don’t stop for anything.”“Dad?” My lower lip quivered again. He kissed me one more time on my forehead and wiped away my tears gently with his thumbs.“I’ll meet you there.” He sounded stern, climbed out of the truck and slammed the door. My gaze switched back to this macho loon making his way toward Dad, who stood right next to the pickup. I quickly moved into the driver’s seat, took a deep breath, and buckled up.With my hands trembling on the steering wheel, I took another deep breath.You can do this, the voice in my head rambled a few times. The key sat lazily in the ignition, and I jerked it to the right. The pickup sputtered and died. The guy disappeared into the darkness, and a new fear pumped through my veins.“No, no, no, no! Please don’t die on me now,” I mumbled as I tried to restart the engine. The man appeared again in the faint glow of the headlights. He was getting closer.“Start you stupid piece of crap!” I yelled over the roar of the blood pumping in my ears.The engine came to life and I screamed as the man leaped toward the pickup. Dad jumped and tackled him in midair. “Go, Elena!” he shouted over the pounding rain.I floored the gas pedal and the pickup’s tires screeched as I drove past Dad, who’d wrestled the guy onto the road. Tears blurred my sight.I can’t just leave him back there. I struggled to come to terms with what was going on.My father and the other man quickly disappeared into the horizon of my rearview mirror. I wiped away my tears with the back of my hand and lowered the mirror so that I could see Dad, but they had vanished into the night.Don’t stop for anything, his voice replayed inside my head.My hands trembled on the shift as I found third gear. A strong force hit the pickup on the passenger’s side. The impact of the blow jolted through my body as the truck rolled a few times then came to a halt on its roof, leaving me suspended in the air. My head and body throbbed, and my hand went automatically to the ache on my head. It was warm and wet, and when I brought back my hand, it was smeared with dark blood. My head began to buzz and my vision started to slip away.Lightning struck, and the road was instantly engulfed in flames, leaving me wide awake. Something to the left grabbed my attention as the fire slowly began to creep toward the overturned truck. Something lifted the truck, righting it on the asphalt once again, and a shrill sound left my lips.The belly of a huge, blue beast on four legs the size of tree stumps stood in front of the pickup. The sight left me breathless and my entire body froze. Dragons don’t exist.A part of its head popped in front of me. Huge horns on the top of his nose lingered inches from the windshield, leaving a foggy condensation on the glass as he breathed. One of his frilly ears lay flat against his head, like a cat’s when sensing danger.He placed a front leg on top of the hood, and my body trembled as the truck started to crumple. A part of his wing came into sight. It appeared to be shredded, with a sharp talon located at the end. Oval-shaped blue scales fanned over its entire body, glistening in the flames on the side of the road. Maybe it only looked that way through the tears blinding my sight. Beady eyes, sunken deeply into its skull, locked with mine. The picture in front of me just became my nightmare. I yelped as the dragon’s weight shifted, forcing the pickup to crumple even more.Another dragon sank its jaws into the one in front of me. Two huge copper horns lay flat on top of its copper head. The blue dragon growled, and snapped with gaping jaws at the copper one attacking it. With powerful force the blue dragon was dragged off the pickup’s hood and thankfully away from me. The truck shook slightly and groaned, while my heart pounded as if I’d just run a hundred meters.A bolt of fire came from the sky and lit up the entire scene in front of me.More dragons landed with thuds in the middle of the road. One seemed to be green with a long neck and a fin-like mane running from the top of its head to its tail. A cloud of dark fog emerged slightly from its nostrils. Another was red and oddly beautiful, but something evil derived from its aura. They attacked the copper dragon with startling savagery.Get the hell away from here, my inner voice shrilled. Quickly, I tried to unbuckle my seatbelt, but the clip wouldn’t release. The earth shook with bolts of fire, and lightning flew through the air, while I tried to free myself.My father wouldn’t just leave me here! As each second ticked by, I worried more about Dad.The dragons came close to the truck a number of times, but the copper one kept driving them back, as if it was trying to protect me. I shook my head, trying to expel that thought. Dragons don’t exist. Wake up. The tips of my fingers felt raw as I hammered endlessly on the buckle of the safety belt. My face was soaked with sweat and blood, and I knew that I had to get out of the truck, quickly. With trembling hands, I pounded on the buckle with my fist until it unlocked. Throwing the restraint from around me, I watched in horror as the copper dragon bit fiercely into the blue’s neck. Blood squirted everywhere and pooled in thick puddles on the road. The blue dragon staggered and dropped down to the ground. Electricity still sparked off its body, but soon died away. The green and red dragons jumped on top of the copper, but it knocked the red one onto the ground forcefully and crushed the green dragon with its huge front legs. The sound of flesh ripping was sickening, and I had to lean over as tremors wracked my stomach, but for some reason I couldn’t look away. The picture of the copper dragon shredding the green dragon’s wing sent a stab of new fear deep into me.“Dad, where the hell are you?” I pleaded into the darkness.The red dragon got back up and flew away just as the copper one moved from the green’s wing to his neck. I flinched and finally looked away as more blood squirted out of where the green dragon’s neck used to be. When I looked again, the copper dragon had turned its gaze to me.I started to kick at the windshield with my newly freed legs. A new sense of urgency punctuated every kick.C’mon! I kicked three, four times, but it only left long cracks in the glass. Watching the copper dragon trudge toward the pickup through the jagged cracks made the scene before me even more terrifying. The dragon stopped right in front of the pickup, our eyes locked, and I could see the vertical pupils inside a pair of dark, rich brown irises. My heart thumped wildly as it hooked one of its talons gently into the windshield and ripped it off.It paused, stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, took a few steps back, and nodded in my direction.It wants me to get out? You’re imagining things, Elena. Dragon’s aren’t real.I didn’t act. I couldn’t. The dragon started to shrink. Its wings and legs dwindled into a smaller size until they disappeared. Its big head and horns shrank into nothing. I watched as the dragon’s huge shape melted away, and the heap transformed into a low-crouching figure. He lifted his head, and huge cuts seeping with blood became visible. It felt as if somebody had squeezed all the air out of my lungs. I’d finally found my father—without a shred of clothing.